Previously a niche topic in Jordan, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now set to take off as an important force bringing together the country’s increasingly sophisticated private sector with the government and civil society organizations (CSOs). From being the subject of select academic discussions and isolated corporate moves during the past half-decade or so, over the past two years CSR has started to enter the mainstream of public life in Jordan. The aim, of course, is for businesses to do things that are good for society, but also to help them deal better with their public environment and so enhance long-term performance and bottom line. From the point of view of CSOs, sustainable development is the ultimate goal, while for the Jordanian government any contribution to the stability of the system would be a welcome step.
CSR gains momentum
CSR really started to take off in Jordan after the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) held a Corporate Social Responsibility Forum in March 2007, under the theme ‘Duty or a Way of Life’. The event’s objective was to encourage new dialogs towards progressive thinking for healthier communities and economies. The forum included a select group of Jordanian and other business leaders and entrepreneurs, CSOs, government representatives, academics and members of the media in an open environment allowing important questions to be asked about critical social issues and the new types of partnerships required for change. Relating such issues as the media, health, sports, and the environment to CSR, the Forum closed with a pitch session, inviting relevant initiatives and projects to be presented to a panel of stakeholders. The 15 minute pitches included presentations and a moderated Q&A with the objective of gauging interest from corporations and supporting entities towards engaging in sustainable, effective change opportunities.
A second significant Jordanian event in this domain was the First National Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, held in Amman in March of this year. Attended by over 100 participants, the conference was more of an attempt to analyze CSR in Jordan, bringing private sector businesses into contact with a wide audience of stakeholders that included CSOs, municipal councils, business associations, trade unions, media, political parties, and academics. An analytical insight was given into the difference between philanthropy and sustainable social responsibility through presenting the outcome of a field investigation conducted for the first time in Jordan. The survey targeted 220 Jordanian public shareholding companies and explored the perceptions of their executives toward CSR practices and obstacles. The survey, conducted by Amman’s Urdun al-Jadid Research Center revealed that 71% of Jordanian companies understood CSR as complying with existing laws, while 57% comprehended it as providing employee benefits, thus showing a fair amount of ignorance of the concept.
A second piece of field research by the same team, also done for the first time on this large scale, investigated the expectations of different societal and beneficiary groups from the private sector. Targeting CSOs, municipal councils, business associations and government bodies, 37% of those surveyed said that companies are not performing CSR activities, while 95% perceived that such activity as was taking place was not enough, and 90% said that these non-profit actions were charity events taking place in Ramadan.
Although, as these surveys showed, CSR still has a long way to go in Jordan, different business sectors — such as industry, banking, telecommunications, health institutions, the media, and trade — are increasingly coming up with new ideas in this domain. Actual CSR activity in Jordan now includes philanthropic actions during crises, sponsoring community activities, establishing sustainable projects in poor areas and building partnerships with CSOs. Some companies have even developed their own CSR interpretation and practices, to be implemented through a specialized department run by trained staff. The telecommunications sector in particular in Jordan has become especially active in this regard.
Overseeing CSR
The March 2008 conference also looked into the role of supervision commissions and other public bodies in enhancing and institutionalizing CSR practices. In particular, the Central Bank of Jordan, the Jordanian Securities Commission, the country’s Social Security Corporation, and the Jordan Institute for Standards and Metrology were seen as able to play a big role in monitoring the performance of the corporate sector to promote standards of corporate citizenship and social responsibility.
What these two events indicate most of all is that the future of CSR-oriented businesses in the kingdom could be promising. In a country like Jordan that is still lacking in business innovation, companies with a strong feeling of CSR could set an example for other entrepreneurs to follow. On the ethical side, with debates currently going on in Amman on corruption and poor governance, such businesses could also take a welcome lead in showing that profits can be consistent with a strong morality. Handled properly and moved beyond lip service to an approach phase could help Jordan move towards both growth and equity, two goals that have so far not proven to be compatible in many developing countries.
